Your Thoughts: The Impact of Social Media on Elections
With the impact of technology shaping every single aspect of our lives, we see the way in which it is beginning to impact politics. From Jeremy Corbyn, who represents the Labour Party in the UK, commenting on his opposition’s Facebook live video to challenge their views, all the way to algorithims affecting what stories certain people see; the impact of social media on politics is heavy, influential and some would argue, detrimental.
The EU have also recently announced they are funding to help tackle fake news; Proffesor Philip Howard is one of seven UK-based researchers who will receive top-up funding to create an online tool to assess suspicious social media accounts and counter fake news.
Prof Howard and his team are trying to shed light onto the ways politicians use online social networks and the world of political algorithms.
“The majority of young people these days get their political news over the social media,” says Phil Howard, Professor of Internet Studies and ERC beneficiary at the Oxford Internet Institute. “It’s very difficult to grow up without developing some political opinion that has been shaped by the content you see from your friends and family over a social network platform.”
BCS, The Chartered Insitute for IT also report calls for digital democracy platform. They stated that the UK needs a purpose-built platform to allow a new culture of politics online.
‘Signal and Noise’ claims that society, and by default, elected representatives are increasingly influenced by social media. Whilst this potentially presents vast new opportunities for MPs, it also presents fundamental challenges as existing social media platforms are not tailored to politics.
Alex Krasodomski-Jones, a researcher at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media and author of the report explains: “As our lives have moved online, our politics has done the same. It’s early days, but digital channels are already shaking up the current political system and will, in time, sweep it away entirely. The change hasn’t been without its difficulties, and there are greater challenges to come. Effort is required – from political leaders, from technologists, and from those participating in digital politics – both to improve existing technology and, vitally, the culture of digital politics. A failure to prepare for these challenges will bring increasing disenfranchisement, decreasing faith in the political system and increasing anger. Embracing the opportunities could prove vital in revitalising our democracy in a time when it feels under threat.”
With some MPs struggling to handle the levels of abuse they receive online, while others avoid social media altogether, the current situation is unsatisfactory for politicians and citizens alike.
The report calls for a cross-party allegiance to work with existing social media platforms to improve their offerings, and establish a purpose-built platform to facilitate meaningful and effective political engagement online, and includes recommendations:
- For MPs (and activists) to work collectively to create a new culture of politics online.
- For existing social media platforms to adapt and become more suited to the task of conducting our politics through them.
- For technologists and policy makers to work together to assist MPs in developing their own set of bespoke tools and techniques that can aid their functioning as elected representatives, and set out what components such a piece of technology should include.
David Evans, Director of Policy at BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT adds: “As we move towards an increasingly digital society, and expectations of our politics and democracy change to match this, we must ensure that the technology we conduct our politics through is fit for the task.
Without doubt, online political engagement is here to stay. But at a time when we as a nation are being asked to consider potentially spending billions of pounds over many years to restore the physical environment of the Palace of Westminster, we are calling for a tiny fraction of that cost to be invested in building a ‘digital commons’ fit for purpose and fit for a 21st Century democracy.
With a General Election looming, there has never been a better time to give proper consideration to how the current situation for MPs can be improved, all in the aim of making IT better for society.”
We begin to wonder if the information we receive is more biased, due to our search history and online activity; some argued that the Brexit result, alongside the election of President Trump was due to impartial exposure and citizens being unaware of the impact the opposition was having, due to only seeing reports based on what algorithms thought they would prefer to view.
This month’s Your Thoughts hears from Craig Johnson at Kagool, who shares his notion on how social media is impacting elections.
Written by Craig Johnson, Kagool
Recent statistics revealed by YouGov show that class is no longer a good predictor of voting behaviour. What used to be the dividing line between British voters is now rendered useless in determining the results, as age takes over as the new key predictor of voting intention in British politics.
The research also revealed that age is what drives people to vote, with older people far more likely to head to the polls than those in the 18-24 age bracket. However, this may not be news to some, as Brexit taught us a lot about the British public. One thing being, young people aren’t engaged in politics. It saw just 36% of 18-24 year olds turning out to the polls, with an ageing population making up the majority of the vote – which was sure to sway results.
The snap election recently called by Theresa May has seen vast amounts of support from MPs, with The House of Commons voting in favour of the poll by 522 votes to just 13 as the Prime Minister urged them to “trust the people”. And with recent stats revealing young people simply don’t turn out to vote, ‘trusting the people’ does not give a fair representation of what the entire country wants.
Historically, party campaigns have favoured an aging population. Traditional outreach such as door to door canvasing and television advertising still play a major role in gaining public support but these techniques will not appeal to the younger voter, and therefore will not be sustainable for much longer. If political parties want to see a younger generation taking to the polls and also voting in their favour – which can influence and overturn the outcome of a vote – they should begin thinking now about how to most effectively use digital marketing and personalisation to ensure they capture their younger audience. We at Kagool believe that the political party to get it right will win the election in 2020 and if they act fast, could in fact win June’s election, making 2017 our last ever offline election.
A prime example of not getting your marketing strategy right is the Brexit poll, which saw a lack of effective digital strategy put into place by both the leave and remain camps which arguably contributed heavily to the outcome. The traditional methods of canvassing did not capture the eye, or imagination, of generation X and potentially more importantly, did not inform them of the outcomes of not voting altogether. Of those young people that did vote, 75% elected to remain within the EU, contrary to the final result, showing just how important it is to make targeting this demographic a priority[1]. There is huge potential to use targeted digital marketing to influence an as yet, relatively untouched demographic, and the first party willing to do so will see its campaigns acclaimed as relevant to the 21st century.
Political parties have attempted to incorporate social media strategy into their campaigns of late, with Corbyn stating: “We need to get a strong, positive message across and we do that better on social media”. However, tweeting, snapchatting and posting on Instagram is useless unless it is done with authenticity and as part of an integrated digital campaign.
Many criticise channels such as Facebook for using algorithms to determine what a certain audience is exposed to, however with the right use of tailored digital ads to ensure users make a correlation between lifestyle choices and the chosen party, this will ultimately result in a higher turnout of the under-30 voter, which could organically turn predicted outcomes on their head.
If done correctly, we believe 2017 could be the last general election where digital isn’t front of mind; in another five years’ time the entire election process will be digitalised with the public even casting votes online rather than in polling stations. Now is the time for political parties to start defining user objectives, tracking journeys and using personalisation to grab attention, converting the user into a supporter, and ultimately, a voter.
[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-leave-remain-europe-supreme-court-case-young-people-students-theresa-may-parents-betrayed-a7528146.html
